Picker shortage threatens harvest

Scottish fruit farmers are worried that a lack of pickers could have a disastrous impact on their business.

BBC Scotland reporter Phil Goodlad has been out on the farm to investigate.

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Farmer John Sinclair is struggling to find workers to pick his fruit

"I could have tons upon tons of rotten fruit lying unpicked."

Farmer John Sinclair spells out to me his worst fears ahead of the fruit season.

His West Craigie farm on the outskirts of Edinburgh reaps 100 tonnes of blackberries, raspberries and strawberries annually.

But he is struggling to attract enough people to pick it.

"I usually employ around 25 workers for the season which begins next month," he said.

"Normally I get around 6 e-mails a day from people asking for work. This year it's only 6 a week."

Not eligible

He is not the only one.

Across Scotland fruit farmers are reporting a worrying low-level of interest from Eastern European migrant workers, the backbone of the Scottish fruit picking industry.

But a recent UK government measure has hit hard.

The Seasonal Agricultural Workers Scheme (SAWS) is now open to only Bulgarians and Romanians.

That has seen a cut from 25,000 migrant workers to 16,000.

Ukrainians, who have been coming to Scotland for years to pick fruit, are now not eligible under the scheme.

There are fears fruit could be left to rot in the fields

That is not the only reason though.

A strong euro and better rates of pay in other non-skilled jobs such as bar work means fruit picking is not top of the migrant workers list.

And forget home-grown fruit pickers, it seems we Scots are npt interested in spending long summer days bent over strawberry patches.

But it is that cut in migrant workers that is seen as key.

That is why James Porter from NFU Scotland wants an increase.

"We're calling for 5,000 more migrant workers than the present 16,000 to be allowed in (under SAWS)," he said.

"In Scotland alone we think the fruit picking season roughly employs about 10,000 people so it is vital more people are allowed to come and work here."

And that is the hope for John Sinclair.

He is gearing up for next month when his empty green tunnels and bare berry patches we see today will be bursting with fruit.

"Just hope we can get people to pick it," he said.

"It wouldn't be nice seeing your livelihood rot away."